Milestone Tragedy: Court Dismisses Case Against Dr. Yunus and 15 Others

A Dhaka court has dismissed a petition seeking to file a case against 16 individuals, including the Chief Adviser of the former interim government, Dr. Muhammad Yunus, over allegations of negligence concerning the plane crash at Milestone School and College. Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Ariful Islam passed the order on Thursday afternoon, stating that the petition lacked sufficient legal grounds to be accepted as a case.

The dismissal came after the court recorded the statement of the complainant, Usaimong Marma—father of the deceased student Ukya Saing Marma—earlier in the day. After hearing the testimony, the magistrate kept the order pending and ultimately rejected the application later in the evening, as confirmed by the court’s process server, Shahadat Hossain.

The petition sought to hold high-level officials and institutional heads accountable for the tragic events of July 21 of last year. According to the application, a training aircraft (F-7 BGI) under the direct supervision of the accused was ordered to fly despite being "defective." The subsequent crash at Milestone School and College claimed 35 lives, including 28 students, and left 172 others permanently disabled due to severe burns.

The complainant alleged that the death toll was exacerbated by the institution's lack of fire-fighting equipment and the absence of proper emergency exits, which hindered rescue efforts. It further claimed that rescue workers were unable to provide timely assistance, leading to students dying before they could reach medical facilities.

The application targeted a broad range of government advisers, military officials, and school administrators. Dr. Muhammad Yunus, as the head of the Ministry of Defense at the time, was accused of negligence regarding the aircraft's maintenance and breaking promises regarding victim compensation. Advisers Dr. Asif Nazrul, Syeda Rizwana Hasan, C.R. Abrar, and Press Secretary Shafiqul Alam were accused of failing to properly direct rescue operations and medical logistics.

The petition also named Air Chief Marshal Hasan Mahmood Khan and other high-ranking Air Force officers for allowing "defective" aircraft to fly over densely populated residential areas. Furthermore, the school’s governing body members and principals—including Retired Colonel Nuranabi and Mohammad Ziaul Alam—were accused of running the institution in an "unsafe and hazardous building" without proper regulatory compliance.

Finally, the Chairman of RAJUK and its field supervisor, along with the former Education Secretary, were named for their alleged failure to oversee building safety standards, which the petitioner argued allowed the school to operate in an unsuitable environment. However, with the court's dismissal, all legal proceedings against these 16 individuals regarding this specific petition have concluded.